Mariners sign reliever with MLB experience to minors deal

Apr 18, 2025, 10:11 AM

Editor, Seattle Sports

The Seattle Mariners bullpen could use some reinforcements, and they’ve added a potential option with MLB experience.

According to the transactions page on MiLB.com, the Mariners have signed 28-year-old right-hander Zach Pop to a minor league contract.

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It’s interesting timing as the Mariners are set to begin a three-game series in Toronto on Friday, and Pop is a native of the Toronto area who spent the last 2 1/2 seasons with the hometown Blue Jays.

The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Pop appeared in 58 games for the Jays in 2024 with a 5.59 ERA, 1.324 WHIP, and 33 strikeouts to 19 walks over 48 1/3 innings. He had a 2-4 record with 12 holds and one save. Pop also pitched 11 games for Triple-A Buffalo last year.

Pop’s best season in the big leagues was 2022, when he split his time between the Miami Marlins (18 appearances) and Blue Jays (17 appearances). That year, he had a 2.77 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and 25 strikeouts to just four walks over 39 innings. He had a high .272 opponent batting average in 2022, however, while he had a much better .243 mark in 2024.

Pop dealt with right elbow inflammation in spring training and was designated for assignment for Toronto before the regular season.

A seventh-round MLB Draft pick by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2017 out of Kentucky, Pop is a ground-ball pitcher who relies on a 96 mph sinker (72.9% usage in 2024) along with an 86 mph slider (14.5%) and 93 mph cutter (12.4%), per Statcast.

The Mariners have used relievers for the second-most innings in MLB so far this season with 77 2/3. That’s a big change from 2024 when Seattle used relievers the least amount in baseball with just 490 1/3 innings.

Seattle also re-signed veteran reliever Jesse Hahn to a minor league deal earlier this week after he was designated for assignment, cleared waivers and elected free agency the week before. Hahn pitched four scoreless innings over two appearances for the Mariners prior to being DFA’d.

The Tacoma Rainiers, Seattle’s Triple-A affiliate, have a number of relievers with MLB experience on their current roster including Hahn, Trevor Gott, Tayler Saucedo, Gregory Santos, Will Klein, Shintaro Fujinami and Drew Pomeranz, among others.

The M’s will open their series against the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre at 4:07 p.m. Friday, with radio coverage on Seattle Sports beginning at 3 p.m. with the pregame show. The game will be broadcast nationally on Apple TV+ rather than the usual ROOT Sports local broadcast.